06 February, 2008

Myself, Senator Dan Boyle and Cllr. Tom Kivlehan ended up at the Super Tuesday Party at the Lime Bar on Georges Street in Dún Laoghaire last night, and it was after 2 by the time I left. I remember hot dogs, lots of free hot dogs. It was a good night. There was a crew from Newstalk there, as well as someone from Morning Ireland.

I met David Cochrane from Politics.ie (and failed to ask him how the new job at Libertas was working out), Jane Dillon Byrne from Labour, and lots of fellow anoraks. Given that Cllr. Cormac Devlin has a stake in the pub, it was definately an ecumenical, if not an all-Party gathering.

Dan was born in Chicago, as was my mother , so we kept a close eye on the exit polls. Needless to say Obama romped home in his own state. However I had lived in Brooklyn, New York City back in the 1980s, and I cast my New York postal ballot for Barack Obama a week ago. It ended up being a 50:49:1 split between Clinton, Obama and Edwards in the 'County of Kings', and I'd like to think my vote almost tipped the balance. I thoroughly enjoyed Obama's 'Audacity of Hope', but perhaps I simply empathised with his account of the constraints of politics.

The US Greens are still humming and hawing about their choice of candidate so I felt happy enough marking my ballot for someone who has a fairly good record on green issues, if what Grist says is true. Either way, roll on January 20th, 2009.

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About Me

Born in Shankill, County Dublin, as the snow melted after the long hard winter of 1963. I trained an an architect and planner and studied at the University of Maine in the USA, University College Dublin, and the University of Venice.
I was a Green Party TD for Dún Laoghaire from 2002-2011. In the Dáil as Minister of State for Planning, I reformed our laws to put the needs of communities ahead of developers. I published laws to tackle climate change and noise pollution, and protect our heritage. I have stood up to high-rise development and corrupt rezoning. I am a keen gardener and sailor, and have two children. I am a Councillor representing Dublin's North Inner City
I lecture in urban regeneration in the School of Transport Engineering, Environment and Planning
at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street.